Blogging Buddies: Tank, Yeti & Nova

We adopted Yeti around five years ago from a pet store. He was in the ‘rescued from the animal shelter’ adult animal section. He’s a huge, pure white cat with one blue and one yellow eye and he somehow fooled us into thinking he was a nice gentlemanly kitty. So we took him home. Soon enough we learned that he must have had a horrible life before us. He was jumpy, afraid of everything, angry and … a girl!

That's right, somehow the vet and/or the pet shop made a mistake and sold us a lady cat under the guise of a man cat. Hahaha whatever.

Yeti was overweight and traumatized and to this day she takes a lot of patience to be around. It takes her a long time to warm up to someone. She loves me like a momma and she likes Ryan okay and tolerates the kids as long as they move slowly and don’t touch her very much, but, fair warning, look out if you’re visiting our house.

And then we got Tank about a year ago. He is awesome. You could say he was a rescue doggy too, because technically he was, but I don’t think he’d have any trouble at all being adopted. We found him on the Victoria Bulldog Society website, his previous family was going to have to give him up because they were having their fourth kid and couldn’t take care of a dog as well. Lucky us!

He’s a purebred British Bulldog (which, we have been recently informed by a breeder family are very different from Old English Bulldogs) and he came with papers and … testicles. For a couple of weeks we considered not neutering him because his babies would be worth so much money, but eventually we decided to do the right thing and brought him down to the vet. 

Tank is probably the awesomest dog I have ever met. He’s hilarious and very even tempered. He doesn’t get hyperactive very often and never snaps or growls unless there are fireworks happening outside or the washing machine is off-balance. The only one in the family who was not stoked about Tank joining the family was Yeti. This picture was taken the day we brought Tank home, haha.

Yeti literally would not leave our bedroom for almost nine months after we brought Tank home, and it’s only been a few weeks since she’s braved coming into the same room as the dog. There’s constant (and so far harmless) hissing and barking. Cat vs. Dog - it’s straight out of a cartoon.

Most of the fighting these days comes from a weird habit Yeti has developed. She MUST drink all the water out of every receptacle there is, except her own bowl. Just had a shower? Bam, there’s Yeti. Poured yourself a cup of water? Yeti’s on the case. Dog dish full of water with no dog guarding it? You get the picture.

And Tank does not take kindly to Yeti drinking out of his dish, but somehow Yeti has established herself as the Alpha animal in the house. So Tank just stands nearby grumbling until she’s finished, and then he chases her, hissing, all the way back to our bedroom.

As far as animal advice goes, cats are pretty easy but I do have some words of caution for people considering adopting a bulldog.

The thing about bulldogs is they are sensitive little muffins. They look all tough but you have to be careful. They have breathing issues, skin issues, short life spans, tummy issues, they can't swim, they overheat easily, they get foot problems if you don't cut their toenails, you have to bathe them yourself ... and more! Tank's quite a little princess sometimes. He loves the blow-dryer after he gets a bath though which is the cutest thing ever.

In the summer heat, Bulldogs will literally choke to death on their own saliva if they pant too much. Can you believe it? That would be an extreme case, obviously, but I'm still careful. I still don't want him to get doggie heat-stroke, so our walks have to be either early in the morning or late at night during the summer.

And, I mean, it's not like we were running around, this was from walking at what I would consider a pretty slow pace. It still probably took him half an hour of lying on the floor, drinking water and panting to get back to normal.

So, in conclusion, if you find yourself taking care of a bulldog for any amount of time, please do your research and be aware of all their issues. As far as doggies go, they take a lot of work and care. But it's worth it, they're the best dogs in the world, I swear.

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Thanks Nova for sharing your story and being the final Blogging Buddies participant of 2011!

We are currently seeking submissions for the 2012 Blogging Buddies series, and we would love to hear all about your pet or pets, please email us!

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